EXCLUSIVE: Buhari Drops Fashola’s Candidate For NERC Chair, Picks MIT Professor


President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as the executive chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

Akinwande (pictured) will succeed Sam Amadi whose tenure ended in 2015.

Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, power and housing, had preferred Olasupo Shasore, who was once attorney-general under him as governor of Lagos.

Shasore was one of the aspirants reportedly supported by Fashola for the APC governorship ticket in the state in 2015.

He and Femi Amzat, Fashola’s commissioner for works, were defeated by Akinwunmi Ambode, the preferred candidate of Bola Tinubu, a national leader of APC.

Ambode went ahead to win the election, but the relationship between Tinubu and Fashola has not improved since then.

LAGOS AXIS

A presidency insider told TheCable that Shasore, a senior advocate of Nigeria, could not be picked because “the president does not want anything that will stoke tension in the Lagos axis again”.

It was widely reported last year that Tinubu did not support the appointment of Fashola as minister because of their strained relationship.

Bello Suleiman, an engineer and former minister of mines, power and steel development, was also suggested for the NERC slot but Buhari was not well disposed to him, TheCable understands.

Suleiman was minister in the Abdulsalami Abukakar military administration and became the MD of the National Electrical Power Authority (NEPA) – the predecessor of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) – under President Olusegun Obasanjo.

DIASPORA DELIGHT

Presidency insiders told TheCable that Buhari personally sought out the NERC nominees as he is doing in critical areas of his administration.

“The president’s expectation is that with more professionals in his team, including those from the Diaspora, he will be able to deliver the goods in these critical areas,” a senior official said.

NERC, which regulates the power sector, is key to the resolution of the electricity crisis as the government has already privatised distribution and generation entities.

Only transmission is still under the control of the federal government and it is currently being managed by Manitoba of Canada on contractual basis.

Buhari sent the names of the nominees to the senate for confirmation before they embarked on their long recess on Thursday.

THE NEW COMMISSIONERS

Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande: He is a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He received a B.Sc. (1978) in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Ife, Nigeria, a MS (1981) and Ph.D. (1986) in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, California, according to his academic profile.

He joined Honeywell Inc. in 1986 where he initially conducted research on GaAs Complementary FET technology for very high speed and low power signal processing. He later joined the Si Microstructures group where he conducted research on pressure sensors, accelerometers, thin-film field emission and display devices.

Akinwande joined MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) in January 1995 where his research focuses on micro-fabrication and electronic devices with particular emphasis on smart sensors and actuators, intelligent displays, large area electronics (macro-electronics), field emission & field ionization devices, mass spectrometry and electric propulsion.

He is a recipient of the 1996 National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award. He has served a number of technical program committees for various conferences, including the Device Research Conference, the International Electron Devices Meeting, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, the International Display Research Conference and the International Vacuum Microelectronics Conference.

Akinwande holds numerous patents in MEMS, Electronics on Flexible Substrates, Display technologies and has authored more than 100 journal publications. He was a visiting professor at the Cambridge University engineering department and an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College in 2002-2003. He is a current member of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council.

He is from Offa, Kwara state.

Musiliu Olalekan Oseni (south-west nominee): BSc economics (first class) from University of Ibadan in 2007; MSc energy economics and policy (with distinction) from University of Surrey, UK, 2010 and PhD in business energy economic in 2015 from the University of Cambridge, UK. His doctorate thesis was on “Self-Generation and Payments for Quality of Service in Electricity Markets”.

Dafe C. Akpeneye (south-south nominee): A 2001 law graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University. Currently the Director, Regulatory Services/General Counsel, West Africa for PricewaterCoopers Nigeria.

Okafor Frank Nwoye (south-east nominee): He is a professor in the department of electrical engineering, University of Lagos. He is a specialist in power systems and control.

Sanusi Garba (north-west nominee): Bsc engineering, ABU, Zaria, 1974; master’s in industrial management, University of Birmingham, 1980.

Nathan Rogers Shatti (north-east nominee): Former commissioner for finance in Adamawa state. Fellow of Chartered Accountants, Shatti was formerly with Exxon Mobil in several countries in Europe and East Africa before becoming manager, treasury and banking services in Mobil Oil Nigeria PLC in 2006. He graduated in accounting from ABU in 1990.

Moses Arigu (north-central nominee): Currently the GCS Partner vice-president (capital markets technology and operations), Royal Bank of Canada. Before then (between 2007 and 2010), he was with JPMorgan Chase (Investment Bank, New York). He was also with Credit Suisse (Swiss Bank, New York), from 2005 to 2007.

source: https://www.thecable.ng/exclusive-buhari-drops-fasholas-candidate-nerc-chair-picks-mit-professor

All this bickering should stop Abeg

If the man can do the job, let them put him there.

MIT doesn't graduate muguns! I only hope he'll be able to adapt his expertise and wide knowledge-base to this environment's peculiar needs.

Fashola should excel at his own portfolio first, then we'll consider fielding recommendations from him. No bad blood pls.

cc lalasticlala......


to politics section, I support what Buhari did, we need technocrats and not just people who you feel you can work with..


we need square beg in square hole

After writing Lai Mohammed's Profile,
I've decided to write Fasholas

[size=15pt]Name:Babatunde Raji Fashola

Nickname:M. O. D (Minister Of Darkness)

Post held:Minister of Power, Works and Housing

Achievements:Disconnected all the Lights in heaven [/size]

wow MIT .. cool move

Very good so Buhari is Christianaizin NERC

yea

Okay


Let the fight begin

good move

Ok

God Bless My Country "Nigeria"

Not sure if Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission or Nigerian Darkness Regulatory Commission

He has chased our brother away

good, what was fashola thinking when he picked an attorney general rather than an electrical engineer and he thought buhari was a fool.ride on baba.it seems buhari don dey get small small sense

FASHOLA AND DARKNESS BE LIKE CHARCOAL AND BACK OF AFONJA'S ASS

In the right sense, fashola should be working under this man when it comes to power. Wetin join lawyer with red n black wire? Thats y I loved Gej, his ministers were top of their games in their specific field.

IKILLxxxAFONJAS:
FASHOLA AND DARKNESS BE LIKE CHARCOAL AND BACK OF AFONJA'S ASS

LOL

For menial jobs, he picks Yorubas, but when it comes to national security issue based jobs he always selects his brothers. Trust the suffisticated youths, they will be overjoyed with crumbs

let see what he has to offer,because that is the koko. Naijabet man say so

Am All The Way Up

These men are educational power house. I hope he will not go the ways of others.

It will have been better if he had been made minister of power that lawyer doesn't know anything about power...Buhari sef

Now this is a list!!

Booking Sai Baba

Now for the first time, I am satisfied with the qualifications of nominees. We need academics and proven track records and not just god-fatherisms.

Misleading headline

Who will even take a failure's nominee serious? Fashola who couldn't convince Nigerians on his own portfolios, is already doing recommendation.


Me: knock on the door.

Fashola: who is it?

Me: Oga minister please open the door, I have a surprise for you.